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Metairie man indicted with murder of girlfriend's 15-month-old son

troy kelly

Troy Kelly, 28, was indicted by a Jefferson Parish grand jury Thursday (June 19), in the death of his girlfriend's 15-month old son after he told authorities he slammed the toddler's head and body against a toilet as some type of punishment, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. (JPSO)
(JPSO)

A Metairie man was indicted Thursday in the death of his girlfriend's 15-month-old son. A Jefferson Parish grand jury charged Troy Kelly with second-degree murder of Samej Batiste, who was slammed against a toilet in their North Laurel Street apartment on Feb. 20.

Kelly, 27, was bathing the toddler and two siblings when, in a presumed fit of anger, he forcibly removed Samej from the tub and "slung" the toddler against the toilet, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. Samej died from blunt-force trauma, the coroner's office found.

Days after the toddler's death, Kelly's attorneys sought a court order to allow an independent autopsy, which would have delayed the funeral. A magistrate commissioner denied the request.

Kelly is held in the parish jail in lieu of $500,000 bond, set Thursday by Judge June Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court. The murder case was allotted to Judge Donnie Rowan's court, records show. Upon conviction, second-degree murder carries a sentence of mandatory life in prison.

At the time Samej died, Kelly was on parole until Nov. 22, 2015, for other crimes he committed in the same Metairie neighborhood, near Airline and David drives. He was released from state prison in November, after pleading guilty last year to unauthorized entry into an inhabited dwelling.

During an investigation of a home invasion complaint, Kelly ran from a deputy into an apartment in the same building where Samej was killed, court records show. The woman who lived there flagged down deputies, who found Kelly hiding under a bed.

He also pleaded guilty in 2010, to selling cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church, records show.